PRINCE’S PLEA

ROYAL TRIP TO IS­LAND

Prince Al­bert of Monaco, the bil­lion­aire royal known as the “Green Prince”, has qui­etly flown in to the Tor­res Strait on a global mis­sion to pro­tect the world’s coral reefs and ocean.

“We only have ‘One Ocean’,” he ex­clu­sively told the Cairns Post in an in­ter­view on Badu Is­land yes­ter­day.

“I call it the ocean, as there is one, sin­gle global ocean that touches all our shores. Just like we only have one Earth.

“I’m look­ing for the in­spi­ra­tion to help peo­ple around the world re­spect the ocean and all marine crea­tures.”

Prince Al­bert uses his power to con­nect world lead­ers, the su­per-rich and celebri­ties in the fight to save our seas.

He’s one of the most in­flu­en­tial fig­ures in marine con­ser­va­tion and heartily wel­comed the in­ter­na­tional cover­age of Prince Harry’s visit and com­ments about trea­sur­ing our iconic nat­u­ral jew­els.

“Harry is a very en­gag­ing guy and a very out­go­ing per­son­al­ity,” Prince Al­bert said.

“Like us, he wants to help ‘re­con­nect hu­man­ity with the sea’. We can­not sur­vive if we don’t have healthy ecosys­tems and a healthy ocean.”

Prince Al­bert II, who comes from Euro­pean and Hol­ly­wood roy­alty (mum Princess Grace was the fa­mous ac­tress) is cus­to­dian of the legacy of an­ces­tor Prince Al­bert I, the “Ex­plorer Prince” who be­gan a se­ries of voy­ages in 1885.

“My great, great grand­fa­ther Prince Al­bert I used to say that art and sci­ence are the two driv­ing forces of mankind.

“With sci­en­tists, we study the ocean, to con­tinue mon­i­tor­ing its con­di­tion to see how we can bet­ter pro­tect it.

“I wanted to spend time with peo­ple who live with the ocean, from the ocean, and who care about the ocean.”

Badu Is­land is one of hun­dreds of coral atolls in the turquoise wa­ters be­tween Cape York and Papua New Guinea.

The three-day trip came about from a meet­ing two years ago with Badu artist and dancer Alick Tipoti at Monaco’s Oceano­graphic In­sti­tute.

Mr Tipoti said the royal visit was “sur­real”.

“We’ve never had a royal visit be­fore. He has helped put us on the map,” he said.

Prince Al­bert vis­its Townsville to­mor­row for a con­fer­ence as part of Monaco’s new role co-chair­ing the In­ter­na­tional Coral Reef Ini­tia­tive.

Pic­ture: Monaco Ex­plo­rations/Ariel Fuchs

SEA CAR­ERS: Prince Al­bert and Alick Tipoti on Badu Is­land.

HEAD MEN: Prince Al­bert and dancers on Badu Is­land.

ROY­ALTY: Prince Al­bert II at his for­mal in­vesti­ture as the new ruler of Monaco in 2005.